Thursday 16 March 2017

PNCC ball carriers stay silent:



Council ball carriers stay silent: More non-news makes the front page…


 Following on from an earlier blog on the subject the PNCC have decided to relook at creating a by-law to remove beggars from its streets…which is a bit weird really when one considers that there are only eight of them.
I noticed that according to the report, none of those with balls spoke on the issue [other than the Mayor who I think has balls]; go to http://wheelerscornernz.blogspot.co.nz/2017/03/whats-difference-between-beggar-and.html to see my earlier comments.

This from Manawatu Standard:

Palmerston North reverts to bylaw proposal to tackle a handful of beggars.
A ban on beggars in Palmerston North is still on the cards, despite the idea's previous rejection.
Palmerston North councillors have decided not to continue with the softly-softly social-work approach to ensuring the city's beggars are looked after.
Instead, elected representatives have again decided to explore a bylaw that bans the practice – despite binning the idea last year.
This comes after mayor Grant Smith last week described some beggars as "holding the city to ransom".
The council's trial with the MASH Trust comes to an end on March 24.
Community services manager Ian Littleworth said the contract had helped some beggars to get off the streets.
"It had been successful in supporting those prepared to be helped.
"But there is a hard core left, who are there for the money."
Smith said just a handful of people continued to cause problems.
He said making sure people's social needs were met was good, but it was time to do more.
"I'm up for another go at it."
Among the reasons the council earlier rejected a bylaw were concerns about the costs of prosecuting, whether stopping people from sitting in a public place was a breach of the Bill of Rights, and whether punitive action was appropriate for people with health and disability problems.
Policy analyst Peter Ridge said council staff had considered last year whether declaring beggars nuisances under a bylaw was the best way of dealing with the problem, and advised that it was not.
"It does not achieve much for council in terms of power. It only gives powers of prosecution for a breach, to gather evidence and file a prosecution with the court, and it does not give powers to arrest."
The Summary Offences Act covered situations where beggars were intimidating people and the police had power to arrest.
Cr Lorna Johnson said she was wary of a bylaw and voted against developing one.
It was a high-risk approach and no silver bullet, she said.
It was a disproportionate response to problems caused by about eight people.
"It's a significant investment of time and money and has no guarantee of success."
The committee recommended against developing a public education programme to discourage people from giving money to beggars.
Cr Gabrielle Bundy-Cooke said she was keen to make progress with a bylaw.
"We know these people, we know how many there are, and we need to be seen as doing something."

Poor old Bruce Watt Photography owner/manager Dave Edmonds must have been deeply disappointed that only two women Councillors had the balls to speak…one made sense [Johnson] while the other [Bundy-Cooke] was more interested in her Hair Salon takings.
It’s going to be fun to see what the Councillors come up with. Will the Beggars be forced to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing, or paint their faces green and white, will a rugby club be authorised to transport beggars to the edge of the city limits and dump them on the side of the road.

The council may of course decide to make each beggar an honouree City Councillor and allow them to use the Councillors bar, now that might keep them off the street.

I’m sure Cr. Bundy-Cooke would be only too willing to give up say 50% of her salary and share it amongst the beggars, that could mean that in a couple of weeks they could get off  benefits and be reclassified as entrepreneurs and receive free grants and maybe even run as Act Party Candidates in the upcoming general elections.

Dave Edmonds may even welcome them into his shop as customers and charge them double the normal price for a print or two.

PS;
It would seem that at long last, someone at the Manawatu Standard has seen the light and has decided to shed some light on this non news item and tell it as it really is. Making mountains out of mole hills is a very idiotic pathway to truth and simply turns readers off. Truth may, just may in the end improve the lot of our sensationalist main stream media.

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